Early on in the Legislative session Sen. Charlene Pesquiera was advised, as a newly elected Democrat, not to bother sponsoring bills. They are unlikely to be heard in committee, and she would be disappointed, she was told.
The freshman from District 26 went ahead and sponsored eight bills. Not one was debated in the inside of a hearing room.
In a recent 30-minute interview, the criminal justice instructor talks of campaigning, legislating, and the joys — and benefits — of running — literally.
What brought you into politics≠ Tell me about your political education. Who are your political heroes≠
My first political hero was Kennedy. JFK. And just hearing his name and growing up in my household… He was someone that I always looked up to and I really admired.
I’ve always worked, directly or indirectly, with various representatives and senators and was very intrigued with politics. In my 30s I was asked by my party if I would be interested in running for state Senate. It was actually a conversation I was having a year prior, and a lot of people don’t realize that. They think that I just jumped in, or maybe it was a last minute decision. But it really wasn’t.
What year was this≠
2006. So when I was asked I virtually had two weeks to get my name on the petition … and it was interesting and a real eye opener for some people to see a Democrat, a moderate Democrat, come in and fill that seat.
Some would say it was a fluke. Would you agree≠
I wouldn’t say fluke when you worked seven days a week. It really turns your life around when you decide to step in. I’m the type of person who if I take on a task I will do it 100 percent — and stepping in and working seven days, from morning to night, it’s not a fluke. That’s hard work.
What notions about the Legislature have proven to be incorrect. What has proven to be true≠
Advice I was given early on was not to bother sponsoring any bills because chances were that I was not going to get my bills heard.
I didn’t come up here to sit in my desk. I came up here to learn in my first year, go through the process, and make a dent here and there and make a difference. And so that was just not just part of my make up — just sitting. Even with that at the back of my mind, knowing that that was happening as time went by — January, February, March, was rolling — I was OK with that because I know that I put my best foot forward in terms of sponsoring what I felt were decent bills.
I didn’t get any of my bills heard but I thought, that’ s OK — just looking at the Democrats in the Senate, we all work very hard and we support each other. I don’t think we are deterred to keep on fighting. Nor are we deterred from wanting to sponsor good bills and bills that are bipartisan. They are simply bills that are for the best of Arizona.
You taught criminal justice≠
I still teach on Fridays.
Correct me if I’m wrong, it seems that on the floor you prefer not to explain your vote so much as observe what others have to say.
I think that my overall personality is I listen and observe, and that’s my character. And when I feel passionate about something, when I feel a bill is not a good bill, I will get up and speak about it or against it. I observe I listen. I will formulate my questions. I will ask questions, but they’re far and few.
In your campaign platform, you mentioned that you favor statewide employer sanctions, a vigorous prosecution of human smugglers, and a guest worker program. There is a bill by Rep. Russell Pearce that is moving in the Senate. What are your thoughts on it≠
There is a glitch on that bill and it’s that we still do not have a system in place, and in fairness to protect our business people, of how to identify this type of activity.
You taught criminal justice. Lately there’s been discussion about the direction that the Legislature is taking. We’ve had bills that seek to prolong jail terms, provide for stiffer penalties, and expand the definition of certain crimes, felonies for example. Now coming from your background, does that strategy actually work≠ Stiffer penalties and longer jail terms, do they work≠
Absolutely not. I’ve worked at various levels between state, private and federal prisons and have seen the cycle of people going through the system, repeating the same crime.
We need to see more programs of treatment. And we need to start looking at other offenses like sex offenders, violent crimes. We need to start looking at those things, because we’ve proven to ourselves for the past 50 years that stricter penalties are not doing anyone any good. We’re creating more prisons that have now turned into private prisons for business. And I just don’t think that’s the direction to go. I think if we’re going to have private facilities they should be private treatment facilities that maybe our prisons can contract with because that would be the more cost effective way.
There have been several studies that state that just incarcerating people really doesn’t seem to work. It works in the sense that people are off the streets, so they can’t commit crime. We now have about two million Americans behind bars. Some studies have looked into the effect of that on communities. One book by Bruce Western, “Punishment and Inequality in America,” says that essentially that in our efforts to try to keep streets safer, we may be actually not saving the community itself. We have so many people behind bars. These are the people who should have been married and rearing kids, and the total effect of that is detrimental to society. Do you agree with that≠
I agree with that. My first professional job was in a prison facility. I worked with youth that were tried as adults. So I was working with 16- or 17-year-olds who were going to do 20 or 25 years in prison. So I was working with these young men that were transitioning into a time when they were getting ready to go into the adult population. And what happens is that these young men end up learning to be better criminals.
You’re a marathon runner. Do you see similarities, parallels, between legislating and marathon running≠
That’s actually a good question. I saw that when I was running in my campaign. That’s a good analogy because I never saw myself winning and I never saw myself losing. I just kept working hard every day from morning until night, literally seven days a week. It was far and few that I had a day off or even a few hours to myself. Because that was so much heart and soul that I had put into the campaign and that’s what you do when you are in a marathon. You never really see the end. You just keep going and you are in it for that moment. And I didn’t realize that after all were said and done and I really kind of managed myself the way I do when I’m on the course and I’m running.
I’ve always wanted to ask lawmakers this question. You receive only about $24,000 a year, excluding per diem. You could get much more elsewhere. Why bother to be here≠
It’s unfortunate that our pay is the way it is. It is not even at an affordable living rate because I think it would be more competitive if it was. In fact, I know it would be. We would probably have great interesting campaigns with different people, diversity from all over, but because of the pay, I think it really restricts people to either those who are independently wealthy or retired or really have a thrifty way of living.